1. Field of the Invention
The subject abdominal exercise system is generally directed to a portable exercise system for aiding a user in performing exercises to strengthen and tone his or her abdominal muscles. More specifically, the subject abdominal exercise system is one which enables the user to perform such exercises with optimal efficiency by not only guiding the user's body through essential movements, but by causing the user to maintain proper form throughout the entire cycle of bodily movements in a given exercise.
A marked increase in the general public's attention to physical fitness has been evident in recent years. Along with this newfound enthusiasm, however, comes the ever-increasing likelihood that many individuals will not perform certain exercises properly. There is a heightened probability where an individual is relatively new to specialized physical exercises, or simply new to physically exerting activities, that the individual will not only fail to realize the full benefits of a given exercise, but may actually suffer physical injury. This is especially so in the many cases where the individual engages in unsupervised exercise within the confines of his or her own home.
Particular classes of exercises, either by virtue of the bodily positions they entail or by virtue of the stress they cause on certain vulnerable parts of the user's body, are particularly difficult to perform. What is more, the potential consequences of their improper performance are particularly severe. One such class of exercises includes exercises such as sit-ups designed to strengthen and tone an individual's abdominal muscles. A strong abdominal region is essential for overall physical fitness given that strong abdominal muscles tend to alleviate the stress/load to be borne by other portions of an individual's body, such as the lower back. Ironically, with abdominal exercises, however, such popular exercises as sit-ups keenly expose to potential injury the very portions--such as the lower back--that would most directly benefit from a strengthened abdominal region. The nature of bodily movements required by such exercises and the unrestrained bodily contortions they permit combine to yield a serious potential for injury.
To avoid this heightened threat of injury, many engage alternatively in a family of exercises popularly referred to as "abdominal crunch" exercises. In those exercises, the user generally lays on his or her back on a support surface, with the knees and/or feet elevated. The user then essentially `curls` his or her abdominal region to draw the upper body region and the knees closer together, then `uncurls` to complete an exercise movement cycle.
While the potential benefits of these abdominal crunch exercises (and variations thereof) are well established, they, too, are problematic for a number of reasons. First, the bodily positions that the exercises require of an individual are sufficiently difficult to maintain to cause even the most disciplined of individuals to initially assume, let alone maintain proper form throughout the entire cycle of the exercise. Yet, so maintaining proper form is precisely what is necessary if the exercise is to serve its intended purpose by any significant measure.
Another problematic point with this family of exercises is the acute stress that could be placed on particular vulnerable parts of an individual's body. If not properly performed in a smooth curling, or rolling, action, harmful pressure may be placed, for instance, on points along the individual's spine, especially the lower back.
In view of these and other factors, a device simple and inexpensive enough to be made readily available to the public is needed to cause an individual to perform abdominal crunch-type exercises properly. Such a device must precisely isolate for exercise the muscles of a user's abdominal region.
2. Prior Art
Exercise devices for aiding a user in performing abdominal exercises are known in the prior art. The best prior art known to Applicant includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,577,987; 5,492,520; 5,728,035; 5,256,126; 5,542,898; 5,300,005; 5,031,905; 4,372,553; 5,746,688; 5,702,334; 5,698,874; 5,308,306; and, 5,665,041.
Such devices known in the prior art include portable devices which employ a frame within which a user positions the upper portion of his or her body while assuming the necessary exercise position. A curvature or other formation in the frame enables it to be displaced in a rolling motion to lead the user in the performance of an abdominal crunch exercise. While some such devices provide a support member for urging the user's head upward responsive to the frame's rocking motion in a forward direction, no device heretofore known provides any adequate means for maintaining the user's other bodily parts in proper form during the exercise.